9/11 Survivor Among Those Killed in Nairobi Hotel Attack

An American 9/11 survivor has been found to be one of the innocent people killed in the terrorist attack at an upscale hotel in Nairobi, Kenya, Tuesday.

The attack at the DusitD2 was reportedly carried out by Somalia-based militants al-Shabab. Police sources say 15 people have been killed, but an official number has not yet been confirmed by the government.

American businessman Jason Spindler, 40, was having lunch in the lobby when he was gunned down.

In a tribute, his brother wrote, "Jason was a survivor of 9/11 and a fighter. I am sure he gave them hell.”

Spindler had been working at World Trade Center building seven during that fateful day.

Surviving the 9/11 attacks changed Spindler’s life. He left the high-powered world of investment banking and joined the Peace Corps.

He had lived in Kenya for five years and was running a tech company called I-DEV, which is based out of San Francisco. The company had an office space within the hotel.

"It is so sad that such a bright young person is taken away by terrorism," his mother, Sarah, told NBC News of her son’s death.

Spindler was a Texas native who graduated from NYU School of Law. His mother told NBC News that he was “trying to make positive change in the Third World in emerging markets.”

The siege at the hotel lasted hours, with car blowing up at the hotel entrance before gunmen stormed the building.